Health, Water Ministers highlight development of both sectors’ services in Zarqa

Amman: Health Minister, Firas Hawari said that the health sector in Zarqa Governorate has seen significant development over the past 25 years, cumulatively.

During an interview with Jordan TV, accompanied by Minister of Water and Irrigation, Raed Abu Al-Saud, Hawari added that the number of health centers in Zarqa, northeast Amman, reached 38, including 10 comprehensive centers, 23 primary centers and 6 sub-centers, in addition to two main hospitals, Zarqa Public and Prince Faisal.

He explained that the ministry is in the process of floating a tender to re-expand Prince Faisal Hospital with an area of more than 5,700 square meters, including emergency, operations and intensive care departments, which will constitute a qualitative leap for services in the hospital, noting that dialysis beds were increased in the hospital earlier.

The people of Zarqa, according to Hawari, have seen great changes in services delivery in the Zarqa Public Hospital, which has witnessed great development and has become comparable
to Prince Hamza Hospital in Amman.

Regarding cardiac catheterization, Hawari said, “We have cardiac catheterization and cardiac surgery in Al-Bashir Hospital, Al-Hussein Salt Hospital, Karak Public Hospital and Zarqa Hospital, which is the last hospital to which this service has been added, and has conducted nearly 100 operations since the opening of its catheterization unit a year ago.”

He explained that the ministry has 23 cardiologists specialized in catheterization operations, and 13 specialists in cardiac surgery, and hundreds of operations have been conducted in these hospitals in this field, adding that quality open heart operations were performed in Al-Bashir hospitals, including arterial transplantation during heartbeat.

For his part, Minister Abu Al-Saud, said during the interview that the water sector in Zarqa Governorate has witnessed great development over the past years, and many large and ambitious water projects have been implemented.

He explained that the value of water projects implement
ed in the governorate over the past 25 years amounted to $1billion, including the Khirbet al-Samra project, which cost about $500 million and was implemented in partnership between the government, the private sector and donor countries to reflect a unique experience of its kind.

He added that the governorate has recently witnessed the implementation of 71 projects, 65 of which have been completed, while the rest are under implementation, and 1,100 kilometers of water networks have been built.

Regarding water losses in the Kingdom, Abu Al-Saud said that 80 percent of the losses are due to theft, noting that another percentage of losses are due to the age of the networks, which the ministry is working to reduce, not to mention the geographical nature of the land.

He said that 1 percent of the loss is equivalent to 5 to 6 million cubic meters of water, which confirms the importance of preserving water and the ministry’s keenness to address this matter through modernizing networks and continuing inspection cam
paigns to control attacks on water networks in various regions of the Kingdom.

Source: Jordan News Agency